NYFF Reveals 2021's Main Slate

by Jason Adams

Like a kid high on candy canes staring at the boxes under the tree on Christmas morning, wondering what wonders await, so go I, wild-eyed and very very awake now, ogling the just-announced roster of the New York Film Festival's "Main Slate" for 2021 (which runs from September 24 – October 10). Like three bears or bowls of porridge we'd already sized up the spectacular threesome that is Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth opening the fest, Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog closing it, with Pedro Almodovar's milky-eyed Parallel Mothers sandwiched in the Centerpiece between, but now... now! Now comes all the meat and fixins and I, for one, am full to burst. Droolin' over here, everybody!

NYFF is often framed as an also-ran when it comes to the full Festival Season since it doesn't get a ton of World Premieres -- most of these movies will have played at Toronto or Venice or heck even back to Sundance (I see you, Passing -- no really I already saw you and reviewed you right here) -- but as my much-loved hometown fest I don't care what's first, I care what's best, and the curation these folks do remains to my eye top-notch...

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Cannes Closing Ceremony *Live Blog*

by Nathaniel R

7:57 We begin with the awards already in progress. (It's always difficult to find a link that works here in the US. Hence the delay) The jury has arrived with their always amusing individual strut ins. The actors and actresses (Song Kang Ho, Tahar Rahim, Maggie Gyllenhaal, etc...) are always relaxed and practiced at this but the directors often look vaguely mortified that they have to display themselves -- have you ever tried walking while everyone is staring at you or you're aware a camera is on. It's disconcerting! Brazil's brilliant Kleber Mendonça Filho (Aquarius, Bacurau) is visibly uncomfortable but Spike Lee, a "star" director, in a suit of many colors, is an old pro at being in the spotlight. He addresses the crowd but since this is a French live feed you can't actually hear the English being spoken because the translators are always speaking over the English. We'll do our best to understand...

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Cannes Diary #08: Huppert, Damon, "Titane", and peculiar babies...

by Elisa Giudici

Today a dream of mine came true: I was finally able to attend an event with Isabelle Huppert. She is quite popular on the film festival circuit but lately she is working in theatre a lot (right now some Chekhov, just like the protagonist of Drive My Car), so I was so excited to finally meet her at the "Rendez-vous avec Isabelle Huppert" event. Let me fangirl a little. She is truly a charismatic person with a serious attitude and kind smile. Her event had two moderators but they were quite nervous (I totally understand!) so the conversation was a bit repetitive if still interesting. The most iconic moment was when someone asked her if she ever experienced stage fright or if she was ever a little scared by the legendary directors she worked with. She immediately answered that she never feels intimidated by anyone. It is an attitude she is not interested in exploring; I wish my brain would listen and be more like that! On Haneke, she said that he obsesses over realistic movements, and gives actors a lot of boundaries but almost never any advice  on how to act...and she likes it that way,

In these kind of events moderators are crucial to create an interesting dialogue. I am not that much into Matt Damon's filmography but I found his Rendez-vous a memorable experience, too, because the interviewer prepared the list of questions well so that the whole event was engaging. Of course Damon's friendly attitude helped. He is a charming person and knows how to make an audience happy revealing small inside details from his long carrier. 

On to the movies...

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